Sheriff's deputies at schools today

Henderson County Sheriff’s Office deputies were out in force Wednesday morning at schools throughout the district, school officials said.

By Leigh KelleyTimes-News Staff Writer

Henderson County Sheriff’s Office deputies were out in force Wednesday morning at schools throughout the district, school officials said.The sheriff’s office increased its presence at local schools just before Christmas break in an effort to calm fears among parents in the wake of last month’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. “The high-visibility presence of Henderson County sheriff’s deputies at the county schools is a short-term measure that was implemented after the tragic school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Its purpose has been to help reduce fear and anxiety among local students and their parents as we do our best to continue life as usual,” Sheriff Charles McDonald said in a statement to the Times-News Wednesday. Parents expressed gratitude at seeing deputies in the parking lot of Atkinson Elementary as children were being dropped off, Principal Matthew Johnson said. “The parents are very appreciative and they were very complimentary of (the deputies’) presence this morning and liked seeing them here,” he said. “I think it is a great show of collaboration between our schools and law enforcement that we are staying focused on the safety of our children.”The school district practices security procedures by holding “lockdown drills” during the year, Superintendent David Jones said.All visitors to local schools are required to go first to the main office and get a visitor’s badge. Teachers and other school personnel are instructed to be on the lookout for suspicious people on school grounds and report anyone who looks like they don’t belong there.Each of the county’s public schools, especially the elementary schools, have specific plans in place orchestrating how students are dropped off in the mornings and picked up in the afternoons to make the daily ritual as secure as possible, officials said.In the news release, McDonald said he and his staff are meeting with school board administrators to look at various options and actions that might be implemented in order to reduce the vulnerability of local schools.The sheriff’s office did not specify a timeframe for how long the department would continue the practice of having deputies be on school campuses for morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up of students.Reach Kelley at 828-694-7871 or leigh.kelley@blueridgenow.com.